Colonisation through T-Pain

DAILY TRUST

NASIR AMINU

The hardship unleashed on Nigerians by the Tinubu administration has left no one in the country unaffected. Tinubu’s unending hardship has become a national tragedy, like a stone in a lake; even the fish feels it. The outcome has been summarised as “T-Pain, although the administrators of the administration are trying so hard to sugarcoat it.

A school of thought thinks Tinubu is pushing the hardship to colonise the North. Kwankwaso spoke about this during the convocation ceremony of Skyline University in Kano. He specifically mentioned that Lagos was meddling in the internal affairs of the North. This cannot be denied.

The North faces economic marginalisation from all areas. Agriculture, which employs most of the people, has been neglected. The CBN has recently cancelled the licences of over 4000 BDC operators, making them lose their livelihood.

The latest tax reform is another trick to get taxes paid by northerners to “boost the production communities,” which are concentrated in Lagos and Ogun. This is stated in the open letter to northern governors by the technical adviser on media of the FIRS Chairman.

The deliberate concentration of federal investments and appointments in southern regions indicates northern disenfranchisement. This pattern, whether intentional or coincidental, aligns with internal colonisation.

Even though Kwankwaso tried to limit the discussion to a particular event, the accusation can be generalised across the country. And if we are all honest with ourselves, the so-called Lagos boys would not have been this powerful, to the point of Nigerians accusing them of colonisation, without accomplices among Nigerians.

It is a well-known fact that Tinubu had his foothold in Lagos and the South West before becoming president. Since becoming president, one cannot ignore how the Tinubu family has spread its influence across all sectors of the country. Even if Kwankwaso saw it from an isolated perspective of controlling Kano’s emirship tussle, his call would have been much more powerful if he had linked the colonisation accusations to the hardship of Nigerians—T-Pain. And Nigerians must unite in one voice to call out this oppressional tactic by Tinubu.

The suspicious part is that the Tinubu administration is uneasy about Nigerians speaking out against his harmful policies, which cause hardship. Given the tragic current state of the country, one wonders why they go to such lengths to change people’s opinions. They have also created alternative realities and promised a future full of fantasy. But Nigerians have refused to take their eyes off the ball.

To be honest, why would anyone even try to sugarcoat it? After all, Tinubu was adamant that he would remove fuel subsidies no matter how hard people protested.

It is becoming evident that the president dislikes the nickname T-Pain. I say this because one can hardly miss the series of rhetoric created by the administrators and spin doctors of this government, all in an attempt to erase the name T-Pain. They know people get used to anything. The less Nigerians speak about T-Pain, the more our tolerance for it grows.

One administrator who recently made a lame attempt to change the narrative is the national security adviser, Ribadu. It is a worry to see people from such respective positions denigrating themselves and ridiculing their offices.

Some think the administration would not have compelled him to engage in such a manner if he had been different. He spent a lengthy amount of time repeating the term “Tinubu Gain.” But looking at the facts on the ground, one can see that Ribadu is far from reality. Many think he is being set up to be ridiculed.

The NSA should not have brought up the argument about security in the North. How unhinged can he be to make such an announcement at this moment? Does he not know that it is in the news that a terror group, Lukurawa, has emerged just a few weeks after the Presidency announced that the Minister of State for Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff are relocating to Sokoto to fight banditry? He ought to know that Nigerians expect the Minister and the CDS to still be in Sokoto fighting this terror. And the minimum outcome should be the taming the new Lukurawa terror group.

In an ideal world, Ribadu would not be in a position to market any gains of this administration unless he is compelled to do so. Even his old financial crimes agency, EFCC, has become a laughingstock under this administration. I am talking about the brouhaha between Yahaya Bello and the EFCC chairman, who has demonstrated the inability to keep to his word—that if the former governor was not prosecuted, he would resign.

As I mentioned, this rhetoric is not delivered solely by the NSA, although his fellow northerners, who are suffering more than anyone in the country, would have liked it if it had not made such comments.

And yes, people are beginning to accept that those who side with this administration are either compelled to do so or part of the agenda to colonise the people, as many have alleged. Harmful policies have impoverished citizens, and the institutions that provide justice and enforce the laws have been weakened. One sad reality is that even the IMF is beginning to sympathise with Nigerians, saying Tinubu’s reforms are not looking good.

Certainly, colonising the North or the country as a whole will not be easy. However, the pattern of skewed governance allows for speculation. Instead of trying too hard to dispel the nickname “T-Pain,” the spin doctors and administrators of this administration should consider advising Tinubu to reverse his harmful policies. But this will only work if their actions are unintentional.

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN DAILY TRUST